


Younglove

by b00_y0u_wh0re



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: 2011, F/M, Falling In Love, Love, Step-siblings, Unrequited Love, Young Love, ash just joined, but its adorable i swear, cal is an adorable awkward baby, idk where this is going, the start is incredibly cringe im sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:47:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 16,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28028793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/b00_y0u_wh0re/pseuds/b00_y0u_wh0re
Summary: In a flash, Calum ducks his head down to her and gives her a soft peck on the lips, his lips soft. He smells nice, like cocoa butter, and tastes faintly chocolatey. He backs away quickly, eyes wide as if even he couldn't believe what just happened. For a count of five, both teenagers just stare at each other in shock, their minds trying to register what just happened. Finally, when the reality that she was just kissed hits her, Hasti whisper-yells, "What the fuck?"Or, Ashton's sister has a bunch of awkward but cute encounters with a certain member of his band
Relationships: Calum Hood/Original Female Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Kudos: 7





	1. End Up Here

Her eyes are still stuck to the thin needle just crossing the little black three, when someone taps on her shoulder. She turns around to see... Zack? Zayn? Zed? She's not sure but his name definitely starts with a 'Z'. 

"Hey." he grins.

"Um. Hi?" she says as more of a question.

"Wanna be part of our group?" the blonde boy says. Who has a fringe nowadays?

"Uh, group?"

"Yeah..." he drags out, "for the chem project?"

"Oh! It's a group project?" 

"Yeah, and since you're kind of smart and me and my mates are kind of dumb, we'll have an average project!" he says cheerfully.

Looking around, she pretends to contemplate the offer as if she had some better ones available. It's not that she doesn't have any friends, it's just that none of them take chemistry. She's not one of the 'invisibles' of the school, nor is she one of the 'pops'. She enjoys attention but she doesn't thrive off of it, you know?

"Sure, um, Z..." she idiotically makes a buzzing sound, hoping the name would come to her once she tried to force it out. 

Catching on, the guy corrects "Michael" in the Australian accent that everyone except the girl seems to have, and makes it sound more like Moi'chael. "Michael Clifford." 

Way off with the Z, then. Damn. 

"Well, it's a pleasure, Moi'chael" she says in a terrible imitation of his accent, "I'm Hasti." she smiles.

"The pleasure is all mine, Hasti. These're my mates Luke and Calum." He gestures to a blond next to him, whose face is absolutely covered in acne, and a black haired, chubby-cheeked boy in the seat next to her. 

It's easy to tell that both of these boys are extremely shy, from the less-than-two-second eye contact plus small half-smiles, to the way they play with their hands in their laps. 

Hasti internally 'awh's at the adorability of their nervousness. 

Just then, the bell rings.

Wow, time really flies when you have people to talk to. Well, person. Only one of them was really doing the talking.

"Can you give me your number?" Michael asks.

"Movin' a little fast there, eh?"

The boy's ears turn red. "Wh-what? No, I-I didn't mean it that way, I just-"

"Calm down, I know what you meant," she chuckles. "Here."

She grabs her pen and scrawls her number onto his forearm.

"You could've just put it into my phone, you know" he says, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" she looks at him like he's the weird one. "Later."

The girl makes her way out the classroom. Freedom.


	2. Good Girls

"Hasti! Hey!" her best friend calls out from her locker halfway across the hall.

"Hey Azrael," she says, watching her jog over to the brunette.

"Wanna come over to Xena's?" the blonde asks.

"Right now?"

"Yeah. Her dad's making this really good lasagna with extra cheese and, like-"

"Say no more. You go on outside, I gotta tell Ashton that I don't need a ride home." she makes her way over to the junior lockers. Hasti finds her brother at his, and taps his shoulder.

"Hasti, hey, ready to go?" he asks in his usual cheerful demeanor.

"No, I'm actually heading over to Xena's"

"Will you need someone to pick you up?"

"I'll catch a ride with Azrael."

"Works for me." he shrugs. "No drugs." he points a finger at his sister jokingly.

Giving him a nod and a small chuckle, she replies, "Yessir."

A while later, three girls are strapped into a car, headed to one of their houses, singing along to all the crappy, over played songs on the radio.

"Movin' my hips like 'yeah', noddin' my head like 'yeah'" they belt out the lyrics to 'Party in the USA'.

"We're acting like such white girls" Xena shakes her head, laughing, making her big gold hoops sway along. 

Xena is, in one word, gorgeous. With her shaved head, cacao colored skin and tall, skinny physique built for sport, she is easily the most beautiful person on the school's volleyball team. She often accessorizes with gold ornaments, which make her look like an ancient Egyptian queen, to whom her bloodline can most probably be traced to, given her regal looks (and, perhaps, her Egyptian descent.) 

Azrael snorts as she pulls into Xena's apartment building parking lot. They all get out of the car and enter the rather small but homely apartment in which Xena and her father live.

Azrael, on the other hand, stunning in her own way, is practically a polar opposite to Xena looks-wise, with extremely pale, freckled skin, the lightest, wavy blond hair to her shoulders, a shorter, curvier form and striking grey eyes. She always complains about having 'no' eyebrows or lashes, no matter how many times the girls insist that she looks perfect, brows or no brows. She also prefers academics over physical activity, and is a borderline geek, topping in nearly all her classes.

And then there's Hasti. She has olive colored skin, light brown eyes the color of hazelnut, framed by long lashes and strong, dark brows that she's never even bothered to pluck. With dark brown hair, almost black, that reaches her lower back in tight ringlets, she stands at a below average 5'2", all of these features passed down from her Persian ancestry.

"Baba! We're home!" Xena calls out, dropping her bag onto the floor next to the olive green, suede couch placed in the middle of the small but very stylish living room.

Azrael scoffs. "You can't just throw your bag onto the floor! You know your dad doesn't like a-"

"Get our bag off the floor and inside your room. You know I don't like a cluttered home." comes Seth's voice from somewhere in the kitchen area, prompting Azrael to give Xena a smug look, in reply to which Xena sticks out her tongue and flips her off, but grabs her bag and shuffles off to her room anyway.

"Oh, girls! You're here too! Great, I just made some lasagna. Come on, help yourselves." Seth emerges from the doorway connecting the kitchen and the living room, still in his work clothes, wiping his hands on a small towel. He waves them into the kitchen, where a tray of cheesy goodness sits on the island, waiting just for Hasti. And her friends, but they're not important. 

The girl immediately grabs a plate and cuts herself a big slice, not acting shy or waiting for anyone else to serve themselves first. Because no one gets between Hasti and her food. It's, like, an unwritten law.

Soon, she's sprawled on the couch, a plate licked clean of tomato sauce resting on her stomach. 

She lets out a big, long burp. 

"Hey, good one." Xena praises. 

"I try." Hasti shrugs with a smirk.

"I am friends with a bunch of twelve year old boys." Azrael shakes her head, disappointed in the two.

Just then, Hasti's phone goes off with a 'ding', indicating that she has a new text. After a bit of struggle and careful maneuvering to make sure the plate doesn't fall off her belly, she grabs her phone from the other end of the couch and looks at the notifications. 

"Unknown number. Huh." Xena says from behind her. 

"Don't look at my texts. Creep." she says, as if she talks to people other than the two girls with her in this room. 

"So what's it say?" Azrael asks from her place on the love seat next to the couch. 

"Hey." Hasti says.

"Hey?" Xena wants to know.

"Hey." she confirms.

"Huh." Azrael ponders.

"No, hey." Xena corrects.

"Hmph." Azrael huffs with an eye roll.

"So what do I say?"

"Just leave it, it could be some creep trying to steal your info or somethin'" Azrael warns.

" _Or_ we could mess with whoever it is." she says with a mischievous smirk.


	3. Girls Talk Boys

_**Hey** _

_Congratulations! You have successfully subscribed to Cuttlefish Facts! 4 DOLLARS will be deducted from your payload._

**_What_ **

_The cuttlefish has three hearts!  
_

**_Cancel_ **

_You have entered an invalid code, please try again._ **  
**

_**What is this** _

_You have entered an invalid code, please try again.  
_

**_Cancel, goddammit_ **

_Cuttlefish blood is blue!_

_**I don't care what color** _ _**fucking** _ _**cuttlefish blood is** _

_Cuttlefish can change color!_

_**For fuck's sake** _

_Cuttlefish are colorblind!_

_**Shut the hell up** _

The girls are in hysterics by this point. Xena is rolling around on the floor, while Azrael clutches her stomach next to Hasti, who is wiping tears from her eyes. 

"I think the poor kid's had enough" Azrael says through her fits of giggles.

"Yeah, Has, put 'em outta their misery." Xena chuckles, wiping her eyes and getting up from the floor to sit next to the other two on the couch. 

_Damn okay_

_**What the fuck** _

_Lmaoooo who is this_

_**Is this not Hasti's number??** _

_Depends_

_Who are u_

_**Michael Clifford???** _

"Shit!" she bursts into laughter.

"What? Michael Clifford? Why is he texting you?" Azrael is confused.

"I'm doing a group project with him and his _mates,_ " Hasti explains with air quotes.

"Oh! Hemmings and Hood? I mostly go for girls, but they're pretty cute." Xena says.

"You think they're cute?" Azrael turns to her.

"Yeah, I mean, they're easy on the eyes, aren't they?" she says.

Azrael just hums and looks to Hasti, "So what now?"

She is already typing a response.

_Hahaha didn't know it was u_

_Sorry about that_

_**Who the hell does that?** _

_Jeez_

_I said sorry :(_

_**Ok, gotta admit, that was pretty funny** _

_:D_

_So what's up_

_**Right, the boys and I needed some help with chem homework** _

_Oh ok_

_Just send me the questions and I can solve 'em_

_**No**_

_**We need someone to explain them to us** _

**_Mind if we video call?_ **

_Right now??_

**_If that's fine??_ **

_Sure, but I'm over at a friend's._

Before she has the chance to type a warning about how overexcited the girls can sometimes get, Hasti is already getting a video call from him and is forced to accept.

"Michael no!" someone yells from the other side of the line. On the left half of the screen is part of Mike's head. On the other side, a glimpse of a dark haired boy. Calum.

And he's shirtless. 

No problem, right? It's not like Hasti's never seen the upper half of a boy.

But then Mike's hand moves and the camera catches the lower part of Calum's body.

And he's also pantless.

And underwearless.

Oh. God.

She immediately throws her phone across the room. Thankfully, it lands on a couch.

But holy shit.

She just saw Calum Hood's...schlong.

Two boys can be heard screaming and a third laughing, but she doesn't dare go over to look again. Xena and Azrael, who have been watching the whole ordeal, look at her confused. 

"PP." is all she's able to get out, frozen in place.

"What?" 

"His...ding dong! His shaft! Dipstick! Meat! Whanger!" Hasti yells, probably too loudly. "His _penis_ , you guys, I saw his _penis_."

"Wait, what? Whose?" Azrael now panics too, while Xena lunges for the phone.

"Dang. Missed it." Xena says, tossing the device to the other two. 

The girls look at the screen and can only see the ceiling but hear Michael and another boy arguing. 

"How the hell was I supposed to know you were in view?" Mike yells.

"Why the hell couldn't you be more careful? You knew I was naked!"

"Oh, I'm sorry you like always having your dick out in the open!"

"You're an idiot!"

"You're a...a...an egg!"

"Whatever!"

"You still haven't put any pants on!" Michael yells as he picks up the phone and points it at himself. "Sorry about that." he apologizes with the hint of a smirk on his lips. "Calum just likes walking around nude all the time." 

"It's all good." Xena speaks for everyone.

"Where's my shirt?" Calum comes into view, thankfully with pants on.

"I don't fuckin' know, you bum." Michael grumbles.

"Hey, Hasti." Calum notices her. "Sorry you had to see my weiner," he says with a sheepish chuckle, scratching the back of his head.

"Hey, at least now I know what it looks like." she shrugs, even though she still hasn't fully recovered from the experience.

There's been a third person laughing in the background throughout all of this, and Hasti has a pretty good guess who it might be. 

"Hey, is that Luke who's laughing his ass off?" she questions.

"Yup. That's him." Michael maneuvers the camera to show the blond rolling around on the floor.

"You guys should have seen how red Calum's face got!" Luke says, dissolving into laughter once again. "He looked like...like my mum!"

It's so adorable how amusing the boy finds the situation that the girls can't help but laugh along with him.

"Anyway. We needed help with chemistry?" Calum tries to distract them from the flashing incident.

"Wait, wait, wait." Xena butts in. "How big was it?"

"Xena!" Azrael and Hasti scold, while Calum turns red all over again.

"Yeah! Tell us, Hasti, were you impressed by the size of Calum's man _hood_?" Luke pushes.

"Can we _please_ not talk about my manhood?" Calum pleads, but is ignored.

"Yeah, Hasti, tell us what you thought of Calum's man _hood_ " Michael smirks.

"I'm hanging up." Hasti laughs.

"NO!" all three boys yell in unison.

"Then no more weenie talk!" 

"Fine, whatever." Mike and Luke grumble.

"So what'd you need me to explain?"

That day, they did a lot less studying and more talking, the girls included. And even though Calum's whanger came up twice more, they didn't hang up. These boys were surprisingly fun to talk to, once they got over their initial shyness. Before they even knew it, it was dark out.

"Az, I gotta get home." Hasti turns to her.

"Oh, yeah, same." she glances at the wall clock.

The boys groan. "Aw, can't you guys stay a little longer?" Mike whines.

"I know I'm lovely to talk to, but I didn't know you enjoyed my company _that_ much." Xena says.

"We'll see you at school." Hasti rolls her eyes, smiling.

"Alright, see ya then!" Luke says cheerfully.

"Bye!" Calum calls, stretching his neck to fit into the screen, just before they hang up and it goes blank.


	4. Meet You There

"Good morning, Miss Amir," a voice says from behind in a posh accent.

"Well, hello, Mr. Clifford. You seem to be in an awfully good mood today." Hasti turns around in her seat and smiles.

"And for very good reason. We finally found a drummer for our band." he states proudly.

"Wait, what? You're in a band?" she asks, curious.

"Indeed I am. With our very own Luke Hemmings and Caluuum Hood!" he says, not far off from introducing MMA fighters.

"And we have quite the following, if I may say so." Luke adds with raised eyebrows and a single, proud nod.

"Really? Well, I expect to have VIP tickets to your next show."

"Sure! You can come over to mine tonight, we always film our-" Mike is cut off by Calum.

"Uh, you sure about that, mate?" he says, eyes wide with panic.

"What do you mean? Of course I'm sure." Mike says, confused.

"No, um, I don't think we're ready for a live audience yet," Calum says, pointedly glancing toward the girl.

"What are you talking abou-" Hasti's the one to cut Michael off this time.

"No, really, it's fine, maybe later." she says with a genuine smile.

Calum clearly isn't comfortable with performing in front of her, and she's fine with that. She knows what it's like to be pushed into stuff, and it's an absolutely horrible feeling.

Michael just looks disappointed, while Calum gives her a small, thankful smile.

"But talking about going to each other's houses, how about we meet up to get started on our chemistry project?" Calum changes the subject.

"Yeah, we really should get started. It's worth like, what? Half our grade?" Hasti stresses.

"A third, but yeah, we should get going. We have to have it done before the summer holidays." Luke corrects.

"Right. How about you come to my house tomorrow? We can get started on drafting some ideas for the project, maybe buy some supplies?" she offers.

"Sounds good to me." Calum says while the other two nod.

"Great. Come over right after school. I'll text you the address." she says to Mike just as their teacher enters the room and she has to turn back around to face the board.

+

Later that day, at home, Ashton grabs the keys to his ancient Toyota.

"What're you wearing?" Hasti says in horror.

"What? Are these jorts too tight?" he looks back at his butt.

"No, what is that shirt?" Hasti points to the purple monstrosity he has on.

"Oh, this? What's wrong with this? Mum bought it for me."

"Yeah, I can tell your mom bought it, that's the problem!"

"I don't know what you're saying, I think it looks fine."

"Sure." she says sarcastically. "Where are you headed anyway?"

"I'm going to an audition for a band." he says, quite proud of himself.

"Good luck getting the spot in that shirt." Hasti snorts. "Wait, what happened to Swallow the Goldfish? The crappy band with the cool logo?"

"Oh, yeah. It didn't work out." he says, slightly pouting.

"Good fucking riddance."

"Hey! We were a good band! Kind of."

"Sure." she says again. "Who're the new losers?"

"Some kids from school."

"Can I come with?"

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"No."

"Please."

"Well, if you insist," she shrugs and darts to the car, strapping herself into the passenger side before Ashton has the chance to protest.

"You're so annoying!" Ashton groans, getting into the driver's side.

"I know." she giggles, smiling sweetly.

They pull up to an average sized home, whose garage door is wide open and movement can be seen inside.

"This is it?"

"This is it." Ash confirms.

"Come on! Move your lazy ass!" the girl says, already out of the car. For some reason, she's more excited than he is.

We make our way up to the driveway, Ashton ahead of her, and he knocks on open garage door. "Hey, guys."

Three boys turn around.

"Hasti?" they all say at once.

The girl just stands there with a confused look on her face, as Ashton asks, "You guys know each other?"

"Yeah, we, uh, have a chemistry project together." she explains. "Hey guys." she turns to them with an awkward wave.

"I'd like to think we're more than just chemistry partners." Calum nudges her, earning a light glare from Ashton, and he quickly elaborates, "Friends, I mean. Of course. I'd like to think we're friends," which seems to satisfy Ashton.

"On that awkward note, shall we begin?" Michael gestures to a drum set behind him.

The garage is filled with all sorts of other musical instruments- guitars, and...long necked guitars...and...thick guitars...and flat guitars. If it wasn't glaringly obvious already, Hasti really doesn't know much about instruments.

"Well," Luke says, "show us what you got."

Ashton silently goes over to the drum set, picks up the drum sticks, and sets his ass down on the stool. Then he starts playing and, to Hasti, his arms are just a flurry of movement hitting pieces of wood against drum skins, but the beat he creates is absolutely banging, and there's no other way to put it. She is constantly switching between watching Ashton and looking at the boys to see how they're reacting and she thinks it's safe to say that they're fairly impressed.

When Ashton is done, Hasti begins to applaud him, expecting everyone else to do the same, but nobody does and Ashton just pinches his nose in a show of disappointment and embarrassment. Once her clapping falters to a halt when she realizes no one will be joining in, Michael goes over to Ashton and claps him on the back, smiling.

"Mate," he starts, and Ashton's face lights up, "you can play a gig with us."

"I- I can what? Am I in or not?" his face falls.

"We'll be deciding that after the gig." says Luke.

"We're not sure if we want you yet." Calum explains. "You're a decent drummer, but we need to see how you do with the rest of the band, you know? If the chemistry is there."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Ashton concedes. "So when is this gig?"

"Saturday." Michael says proudly, spreading his arms for emphasis. "At a pub, called the Annandale Hotel."

"We'd better get rehearsing, then." Luke suggests.

Everyone expresses their agreement, while Calum just sends nervous glances Hasti's way. She walks up to him and softly starts talking to him, putting her hand on his arm to comfort him.

"Hey, I can leave if you want, but trust me, you're gonna be performing in front of a lot more people that night."

"No, it's not them I'm worried about, it's-" he stops short. "It's fine, I just..."

"If you think that I'm gonna be judging you or something, then don't even worry about it, you're probably amazing. You're in a band, of course you're amazing, I mean-"

"Hasti!" he interrupts, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Stop rambling, I get it." he lightly laughs. "Thanks, though. For...expressing your confidence in me. And stuff."

She smiles back up at him.

"Boys, take your positions!" Ashton calls out.

The boys stand with Luke in the middle, Calum on the right, Mike on the left and Ash behind them, on drums.

Waving at their phantom audience, Luke cheerily calls, "Hello everybody, we're Five Seconds of Summer, and we're gonna be performing an original called Gotta Get Out!"


	5. Try Hard

Michael, Luke, Calum and Hasti sit in Ashton's car on our way to the siblings' house, the girl squished between Mike and Cal in the back seat because a whiny little bitch got shotgun since he can run faster than her, even though she had already called shotgun. She's not in a good mood today.

"Hey, you guys want some brownies?" Ashton asks.

"Sure, father." Mike replies, bored.

Ignoring the snide (but accurate) remark, Ashton continues, "I found this real good recipe for brownies online, and I wanna try it out."

"Sounds great, padre." Luke mumbles.

Ashton's shoulders slump due to the underwhelming response.

"I'll eat your brownies, Ash." Calum says.

"Yeah, me too. You already know how much I love anything with chocolate in it." Hasti says.

"Yeah, the recipe actually calls for some special, richer chocolate that's produced in-" 

"I said I like eating chocolate, not hearing about it." she interrupts Ashton, who had been explaining his decadent foreign chocolate with much enthusiasm.

"Kids these days." Ashton grumbles.

As soon as they enter the living room, Michael makes himself at home by throwing himself onto the couch and wipes his forehead, saying, "I'm winded."

"From what? Walking up the driveway?" Hasti jokes.

"Yup." Mike yips.

"He's not the most physically active guitarist." Calum explains.

"Hey, that was a long ass driveway." Michael defends himself. 

"Nice house, by the way. Very...big." Luke compliments.

"That's what she said." Michael and Hasti say at the same time, bursting into laughter immediately after.

"Ha, ha, ha. Can we get started, now?" Luke says.

For a while, the teenagers brainstorm ideas for the project, joking around every now and then. Just then, Hasti remembers that her brother was baking. And that means bowls and spoons to lick.

She shoots up from her seat on the couch and yells, "Brownie batter!"

"What about it?" Mike says.

"I have to lick the spoon!" she says, surprised that no one caught on.

"Gross! There's, like, raw eggs in there." Luke grimaces.

"What do you mean? It's so good!" Calum argues.

"See?! He gets it."

"I'll pass, thanks. No salmonella for me." Michael says.

Calum and Hasti exchange a look that says, 'Can you believe this guy?' "Pussies. Come on, Calum." she rolls her eyes at the two sissies.

"Hey, salmonellosis is serious! My brother Jack got it and he was shitting himself for days!" Luke warns as we leave walk to the kitchen.

We enter the kitchen to find Ashton wearing a pink apron that Hasti bought his mom for Christmas, which said, 'Watch me whip' with a picture of a whisk next to the text. She can't help but let out a snort at seeing him in that, as does Calum.

"No one says anything about the apron." Ashton sighs, already over their bullshit.

She immediately lunges for the spoon, leaving the big glass bowl sitting on the counter to Calum. 

"I don't get how you find that appealing." Ashton states.

"You know what?" she says. "I think we're the only sane people in this house," at which Calum chuckles.

Licking the familiar tasting sweet, thick batter, she thinks back to when her mother would be baking and, every time, she'd sit her on the counter and let her lick the spoon clean. She'd bake quite often. She did it for a living. The memories are quite blurry, but she remembers her telling her that Hasti could have the spoon since it's easier to lick from. 

"What're you thinking of?" Calum interrupts the girl's thoughts.

"What?"

"You're smiling." he points out.

"Oh." she chuckles. "Just thinking about my mom."

"What about her?" he wants to know. "You don't have to tell me, of course." he quickly adds.

"Nah, it's cool." she assures him. "Before she died, she'd always set me on the counter and let me help her bake and stuff. She was a baker, actually. Had her own business. Anyway, when we'd be done, we'd lick the batter off the dishes, and she'd always give me the spoon to lick 'cause she said it was easier. Though now that I think back, she might have just wanted more batter for herself."

"Or, she wanted you to eat less batter so you'd have a lesser chance of getting sick." Calum theorizes.

"Yeah, that sounds like mama." they smile together.

"You have batter around your mouth, by the way."

"Crap." she chuckles and start wiping around her lips.

"And on your chin." he says, starting to gesture to his own chin in an effort to tell her where it is. When she doesn't get it, Calum takes matters into his own hands. 

Literally.

"Here." he says, coming closer with his hand held out. 

On instinct, Hasti backs away. She's a jumpy person.

"Sorry, um, I just-" she breaks off with a nervous laugh.

"It's alright" he assures her, using his thumb to wipe her chin. He then looks at his thumb and back to the girl as if contemplating something. Eventually, he seems to decide to go for it and licks his thumb clean.

"What the hell, Cal!" she laughs, only slightly grossed out.

"What?" he says, suppressing a laugh, "You shouldn't waste food!"

She just rolls her eyes and looks back to her spoon.

All of a sudden, he does something she never could have expected.

In a flash, Calum ducks his head down to her and gives her a soft peck on the lips, his lips soft. He smells nice, like cocoa butter, and tastes faintly chocolatey. He backs away quickly, eyes wide as if even he couldn't believe what just happened. For a count of five, both teenagers just stare at each other in shock, their minds trying to register what just happened. Finally, when the reality that she was just kissed hits her, Hasti whisper-yells, "What the fuck?"


	6. Gotta Get Out

Calum is completely still, his face paralyzed in fear. "Sorry?" he makes it sound more like a question.

"What in tarnation was that?" Hasti starts smacking his arm with both hands.

"Ow, ow ow! I don't know why I did that, I, ow! It just felt like a good idea at the time, ow!" he cries out, holding his arm.

"A good idea?" she pauses her assault on him "That was my first kiss!" she yells in a high pitched voice, giving his arm another big, hard slap.

"OW!" he starts saying in panicked voice, pitched high enough to match hers, "Mine, too! I'm sorry! I just-" he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. "I'm sorry." he says, more calm. "I won't do it again." he looks into her eyes.

With a last slap, Hasti storms out of the kitchen and into the living room, sitting down between Luke and Mike, as far away from the spot Calum had taken earlier, trying as hard as she can to smooth away the lines on her face. Calum follows soon after, also clearly trying to keep his distance.

"Let's continue with the project, shall we?" she plasters a smile on her face. Mike and Luke, not noticing the tension between the boy and the girl, start discussing the materials they should use to build the project.

"Hey, kid, I-" Hasti's dad walks in, stopping short when he sees his only daughter hanging out with three teen boys. "Hello." he puts on his professional, rather intimidating voice that he reserves for his clients.

"G'day, Mr. Amir" Mike replies, while the other two just awkwardly sit there. Nudging them, the boy says, "I'm Michael." he gets up and walks over to shake his hand.

Taking Mike's hand in his, baba says, "And these gentlemen?" he nods towards Luke and Cal.

Scrambling up from their seats, the two introduce themselves and shake baba's hand as well.

"And what are you boys doing here?" Baba interrogates them.

Thankfully, Anne-Marie makes an entrance. Hasti immediately sends her step-mother a 'Help! Overprotective father on the loose' look.

"Hassan! What're you traumatizing these poor boys for?" Anne scolds her husband.

"What do you mean? I'm not traumatizing them, I'm just asking them why they're here!" he defends himself as mum puts a hand on his arm and steers him out of the living room. "Oh, look, brownies!" she distracts him.

"Sorry about that, guys." Hasti apologizes once her parents are out of earshot. "Baba can get pretty protective of us at times." she chuckles.

"Nah, we get it." Luke says, smiling genuinely. "It's good to know he cares, right?"

"Yeah...it is." she stares back in the direction he left, smiling.

"Anyway. We should, uh, get going." Calum says, still mostly avoiding Hasti's gaze. "It's getting pretty dark out."

"No! Stay for dinner, boys!" mum suddenly enters without baba, who is undoubtedly stuffing himself with brownies.

"Oh, no, we really couldn't-" Calum starts.

"Nonsense! I'll ring up your parents, if you need. But I've made some great chicken pot pie, and we can have brownies and ice cream for dessert! If Hassan leaves us any, that is." she says, more to herself.

"Wait, how'd you make chicken pot pie? Ashton's been using the kitchen this entire time." Hasti says, confused.

"Okay, maybe I didn't make it and ordered it instead, but it's good pot pie regardless." she admits sheepishly.

"Still sounds great." Mike says, laughing lightheartedly. "We'll help you set the table." he follows her into the kitchen, the rest trailing behind them, two of them quite reluctantly.

"Hasti, help erm," Anne looks to the dark haired boy, who quickly supplies, "Calum."

"Right, set up the glasses with Calum, Ashton do plates, and you two darlings can do the cutlery." she turns to everyone one by one.

Calum swallows hard as Hasti walks to the cabinet. She starts handing him glasses without looking back, counting seven. When she turns around with a glass in each hand, he is just standing there, precariously balancing five glasses in his arms.

"Calum! Put them on the table!" she says, worried they may fall.

He scrambles to the table and lowers himself so the glasses rest on the table while still in his arms. Seeing him in that position, Hasti can't help but snort. They set up the glasses together, the tension between them seemingly absolved, and Anne Marie enters the kitchen with her husband trailing behind her, looking dejected. He clearly got a scolding.

"Well! This looks just lovely." she comments, sitting down at the head of the rectangular table. Baba takes a seat to the left of her, leaving two seats empty on that side, and Ashton, Mike and Luke sit on the opposite side. Calum, obviously not wanting to sit next to their father, sits a seat away from him, leaving only one chair for Hasti (surprise, surprise!) between him and Baba.

Shimmying through the small space left between the chairs, she plops down and sits awkwardly with her hands in her lap.

"So." the eldest woman starts to make small talk. "How's school?"

Everyone mumbles stuff like "Great," "Good," and "It's going," which earns a few polite chuckles.

"Oh!" Anne Marie remembers something, "What about the new band you joined, Ash? How are they?"

"I'd say they're alright." Mike says.

"Oh, d'you know them? Ashton said they're boys from your school," mum recalls.

"Actually, mum, these _are_ those boys," Ashton tells her. "And I'm not exactly in the band quite yet. It's complicated." he says, not wanting to elaborate.

"Oh, well, it's great that both of my children are friends with some lovely boys." Anne Marie says, and Hasti feels warmth spread through her. 

Wait.

She feels a physical warmth spread over her lap.

She looks down and, thankfully, she didn't piss herself, but there's mashed potatoes all over her. And Calum is holding the now empty dish over her lap, his face full of fear.

"Wow." she drags, sarcastic.

Calum frantically apologizes, "I'm so sorry! It just slipped, I-"

"It's alright, dear, really." Anne Marie coos. "Go on and clean yourself off, Calum can help you."

Groaning in annoyance, Hasti starts to get up, which makes potatoes fall off her lap and onto the floor with a loud, heavy 'plop'. "I'm gonna cry." she says in a small voice, bringing her hand to the bridge of her nose.

"Oh!" Anne says in surprise. "It's alright, I'll clean it up." she sighs, much less forgiving than she was with Calum. Just another sign that she truly considers Hasti to be her daughter.

As she trudges up the stairs, Calum follows behind, silent and shameful.

"Look, I'm really sorry." he says.

"It's whatever. You didn't do it on purpose. " she sighs.

"What?" he looks extremely confused.

Brows furrowed in matching bewilderment, she has questions in her eyes.

His eyebrows scrunch together even more, eyes narrowing to the point where Hasti can't even tell if he can see.

"Did you drop the mashed potatoes on me on purpose?" she says, more confused than angry.

Suddenly, as if realization just dawned, he cries, "Oh! Oh, no! No! No, not at all! Why would I do that?" 

Still weirded out and a bit suspicious, Hasti keeps one eye on him as she uses some toilet paper to clean majority of the potatoes off her jeans, wondering why mum even sent him up here when he was not going to be any kind of help.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to change." she looks at him expectantly.

When he doesn't move, she jerks her head toward the door to give him a hint.

His cheeks coloring, he says, "Oh! Right! Sorry, sorry, I'll, uh, I'll just be leaving." he closes the door behind him and Hasti hears him loudly breathe a sigh of relief as he does so, not realizing she did the same.


	7. Lonely Heart

They stand outside the pub, the boys clutching their guitars in their cases, nervous jitters taking over their bodies.

Just as they push open the door to go in, Xena and Azrael round the corner and walk over to them, looking flushed. 

"Hey!" Hasti greets, going over and pulling them both into a simultaneous one-armed hug. "Boys, you remember Xena and Az."

"Nice to finally meet you in person." Xena says, shaking each of their hands one by one while Azrael waves at them from afar.

"Thanks for coming. By the looks of it, you're one of the lucky ten people here." Michael comments, sort of dejected.

"Well, Mike, we're extremely glad to be lucky enough to be at 5 Seconds of Summer's first show." Xena says, quite genuine.

Michael just smiles at her in reply, looking intrigued by her outgoing nature, quite similar to his own.

They could totally be seen together, Michael and Xena. 

After further greetings are exchanged, the group enters the rather small pub, the boys going off to set up and the remainder of them taking a table as close to the stage as possible. 

After three or four more people have come into the Annandale Hotel, the boys get onto stage, Luke holding his guitar in center, Mike with his on the left, Cal with his bass on the right and Ashton behind on drums. Just like every other 'jamming' session of theirs, Hasti's noticed.

As Luke starts to introduce them, but not without a few technical difficulties, the three girls cheer and yell loudly, along with a few other fangirls, making them all laugh.

"We're gonna play some songs and this first one's an original called Get Out." he says quickly.

Finally, they start playing, starting off with the now familiar musical sequence, then Luke starting, 

_Even when the sky is falling down  
Even when the Earth is crumbling around my feet_

Calum sings, looking at the ground, the walls or his bass but not daring to turn his gaze to the crowd. _  
_

_Even when we try say goodbye  
You can cut the tension with a knife in here_

_'Cause I know what will happen  
If we get through this_

Michael and Luke harmonize,

_And if the earth ends up crumbling down to its knees then baby  
We just gotta get out, we just gotta get out  
And if the skyscrapers tumble down and crash around baby  
We just gotta get out, we just gotta get out_

As the song progresses and the boys get more comfortable, Luke, voice beautiful as ever, closes his eyes at certain parts of the lyrics, while Ashton drums quite skillfully. Michael jams to the music, playing his guitar passionately, and bobbing his head to the beat while Calum manages a few short, timid glances at his friends' table, his thick brows furrowed as they always are whenever he sings and his lisp faintly noticeable.

_'Cause I feel so damn lost  
And it comes with a cost of being alone  
Everything is falling down, we're suffering  
Helpless thoughts, and out we sing  
Prayers go to the sky_

Luke has the audience sing the line 'Even when the sky is falling down' and, even though not everyone joins in, the girls certainly do, enjoying their friends' performance. They sound pretty bad, but it sure is fun, seeing them up there.

A few more songs later, Luke finishes with a "Thank you," the crowd cheers for them and they all shuffle off the stage. They walk over, and as Xena starts, "Well, that was-" she is interrupted by Luke, "Don't. We know we were horrible." 

"Aww, you weren't horrible!" Azrael immediately defends, "You just need...a bit more practice with the mics and the amps and all." She's always been the nice one.

"Yeah, I didn't think we were so bad." Ashton agrees.

"No, no, we were." Calum contradicts.

"Oh, come on. Has, you didn't think we were terrible, did you?" Ash turns to her.

Panicked from being put on the spot, Hasti distracts everyone, "Hey, I'm hungry, are you guys?"

"I could eat." Michael says.

"When can you not?" Calum mumbles.

"Hey, don't be mean!" Xena seems to have heard him. "I eat constantly too." she loops her arm through his and skips out of the pub, him happily obliging. "Come on, Mikey, let's go somewhere we're wanted."

"So McDonald's?" Michael whispers.

"Yeah." she replies, also whispering.

"So we're just going to let them leave? Alone?" Azrael frets. "What if she comes home pregnant? What if she kills him?"

"Az, they're two kids going to McDonald's." Hasti reassures her. "Wait, maybe we _should_ go after them."

The rest of them leave the pub and find Michael and Xena skipping along merrily, still arm in arm. Hasti unconsciously starts humming the song the boys were just singing. After the amount of times she's heard them playing it, she has practically all the words memorized. 

"Like our song that much?" Calum comes up behind her.

Surprised he could hear her since she was so quiet, the girl replies, "Oh. I've heard it a bajillion times thanks to you guys and now it's stuck in my head." She flicks his forehead playfully.

"Ow, that hurt." he rubs the spot he was hit. What a baby. "D'you actually like it though?" he repeats, desperate for approval.

"Yeah, it's a good song. You guys should be proud of yourselves. Who wrote it, anyway? Or, most of it?" 

Seemingly satisfied with the response, Calum replies smilingly, "Yours truly."

"Woah, really? All of it?"

She receives a proud nod.

"Nice, dude." she punches his arm.

"Ow! How can you hit so hard?"

The 15 year old says in a cringe-worthy surfer dude accent, flexing her bicep, "I lift, brah."

Just then, Ashton runs up from behind and inserts himself between the two. "Hey, guys. What're you talking about?" 

"For fuck's sake, Ashton." his sister rolls her eyes, "We're not gonna start making babies on the sidewalk."

While Calum reddens, Ashton replies in his old man voice, "Well, you never know with this generation."

"Fuck off!" she laughs. "You're like a year older than us!"

"Two years, actually." he corrects.

Luke butts in, "And you should always respect your elders."

Hasti rolls her eyes yet again, smiling slightly.

"McDonald's!" Luke childishly yells and runs over to the big, shiny building with the iconic Golden Arches hanging over the top.

"Race ya!" Hasti calls to Calum, taking off. Laughing, he obliges and runs to the entrance.

"I won!" Hasti says, quite out of breath.

"Hey, no fair! You had a head start!" the boy argues.

"Well, that's too fuckin' bad, ain't it?" she mocks in a high voice.

Narrowing his eyes in a glare, Calum says, "I could beat you any day. I'm a soccer player." he puffs out his chest.

"Sure." she drags, "Guess we'll see next time." A challenge.

"Guess we will." he accepts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapter names are so random 😩😩😩😩 and the endings are so random 😩😩😩😩😩😩 and the entire plot is so random 😩😩😩😩😩😩😩


	8. She's Kinda Hot

Calum and Hasti wander the school halls during lunch, waiting for the rest of their friends to show up. The school didn't really have a lunch hall, per se. The children could eat practically anywhere. It was sort of like lunch and recess combined.

All of a sudden, Calum moves toward his friend and, scared he might kiss her again, (no, she had not forgotten about that.) the girl closed her eyes and braced for impact. Instead of moving his head down, however, the boy reaches into her hair. 

"There was something in your..." he frowns at the girl's scared expression. "...hair."

Opening her eyes, she lets out a breath. "Oh."

Looking like he was holding in laughter, he starts to say, "Wait, did you think I-"

Just then, Michael crashes into both from behind, slinging an arm around each neck, effectively breaking them apart. Hasti's (mostly) thankful for the interception.

"What is up, my homies?" he tries an American accent, but receives unamused looks from the other two. "Sorry." he clears his throat awkwardly and starts speaking normally, "I heard Lacy just broke up with her boyfriend."

"And?" Calum asks, quite bored.

"Dude! She's like the hottest girl in our grade!" Michael pouches Calum's arm.

And he's really not lying. Lacy Greene, with her ruby red hair, bright green eyes, curvy physique and naturally rosy, freckled cheeks manages to capture the attention of all the kids in school. She's not exactly the most popular girl, but she's well known for her looks.

"And you think you have a chance with her?" Hasti laughs. "You're cute, Mike, but her now ex boyfriend was a _senior_."

"Wait, you think I'm cute?" he smirks.

"In an annoying little brother way."

" _Sure_. Look, Hasti, I know I'm quite the ladies' man, but I really can't have you falling for me." he brushes the non existent dust off his shoulders.

"Ha, ha. So do you have a plan to get with Lacy?"

"Er, not really. But I was thinking I could, like, ask her out to a movie later tomorrow?"

"Are you kidding? A day after her breakup?" she says, apalled. "She's gonna be devastated right now. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't even come to school today."

"She doesn't look too devastated to me." Calum points his chin towards a trio of girls across the hall, all three of whom are giggling at something. Just then, the red-haired, green eyed beauty herself looks in their direction, smiles at one of them and looks down.

"Did she just smile at me?" all three say simultaneously.

"Naw, she smiled at me." Michael says, completely sure.

"Damn. She _is_ hot." Hasti says.

"She's alright, I guess." Calum comments.

"Are you kidding? She's like a solid 10." the girl argues while Mike just drools over her.

"Who's a solid 10?" Luke butts in.

"Lacy Greene." she sighs. " _I_ might be getting a crush on her."

Just then, she looks up, smiling, tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, and looks away again.

"Did you see that?" Michael turns to Calum, excited. "She looked at you! And she did the hair tuck! That's like, girl code for 'I'm into you!'"

"What?" Calum panics.

"Yeah, dude, she totally checked you out!" Luke pushes.

"Lucky bastard." Michael laughs, still looking at Lacy.

"What do I do?" Calum asks, still in a frenzy.

"Nothing, just play it cool, dude." Michael instructs. "Girls want a guy that's hard to get."

"O-okay." Calum crosses his arms across his chest and awkwardly leans against the wall, brows furrowed with a distant look on his face.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hasti asks. "You look like you've got the runs and you're holding it in," she laughs.

"I- I was trying to act cool." Calum says, his arms falling to his sides and his pained expression going away.

"Just be natural. Like, laugh at something, you have a nice smile. Or...or run your hand through your hair! Girls love that. And give her a smile or a wave or something," she advises.

Luke looks at her strangely, while the other two boys look at her like she's out of her mind.

"Just look at her. She'll know you're looking, and when she sees you, smile. Trust me, I'm a girl."

Calum looks in her direction and, as predicted, Lacy looks up. Hasti widens her eyes at Calum and bares her teeth to remind him to smile, which he does, although he looks a bit constipated. Lacy, after smiling back at him, turns to her friends and says something to them, after which they start walking the boy's way.

"See?!" she nudges him excitedly.

"Hey, Calum!" comes Lacy's bubbly voice. 

"Uh. Hi. Lacy. Greene." Calum replies, pretty awkward, glancing at Hasti every few seconds, probably for help.

Laughing, Lacy tells him, "You're adorable! Like a little dog!"

Well, puppy, but okay.

"Uh, thanks...?" Calum says, uncertain.

"Oh, that was a compliment." she clarifies. "Anyway, what're you up to tomorrow night?"

"Uh," Calum begins, but is immediately cut off.

"I'm actually having a party at my house, and it's gonna be pretty awesome. I guess I'll see you there!" she kisses him on the cheek, making him go all red just like the dwarfs from Snow White. As she walks away, she turns around to wave at him.

"Man, I didn't even want her." Calum wipes his cheek. "There's some sticky shit on me, too."

"Well she's pretty forward." Mike says.

"And a bimbo." Luke says, at which Mike seems to take offense as he scoffs.

"And bitchy, inviting him with us right here. Her rating just went way down." Hasti adds.

"Not by too much though." Michael says, still fawning over her.

"Nah, she's a 7 now." she turns to Calum. "You're not gonna go, are you?"

"Well, what if we all go?" he replies with a smirk, and she catches on.

"I think she made it pretty clear that she doesn't want us there." Luke says.

"Yeah...I don't know if we're gonna be allowed in." Michael agrees.

"Well, then, I guess we're crashing a party." Hasti says with a mischievous smirk.


	9. No Shame

Crashing a party, it turns out, is neither as difficult, exciting nor fun as the movies make it seem. Sure, the concept seems badass, but the actual execution of the concept? Totally lame, as the kids learnt that day.

Hasti stands at Lacy's door, clad in a casual outfit with her curls out and hitting her lower back, the band and the girls all standing behind her. After ringing the bell, she rushes back and pushes Calum to the front of their (rather large) group, since he was the only one actually invited. The house is big enough to be called a mansion, which comes as no surprise, after seeing the expensive shoes and belts Lacy wears with her regular uniform.

The door opens to reveal a boy, about four years older than all of them, all red hair and green eyes, so handsome that his looks could have only come from the Greene gene. "Uh, Lacy's friends, right?" he looks back toward the house, which seems to be quite full, with music playing loud enough that the thumping bass can be felt in the soles of one's feet. With furrowed brows, he says, "I told Lacy not to invite more than a few."

The group exchanges an 'Uh-oh' look, and someone yells, "Split up!" at which everyone shoves past the gorgeous Lester Greene, and they move into the house, all heading off in different directions.

Hasti wanders through the party, not really having much to do. These kids are mostly Lester's age, making this more his party than Lacy's. She's only just entered the party and she's already bored. She can't really drink since 1. she's never done it before, and so 2. she doesn't want the first time she gets drunk to be at a lame party. (Stupid, right?) Also, 3. she's underage and 4. doesn't want to be molested by some drunk-off-their-ass college kid.

She decides to look for some of her friends while simultaneously keeping an eye out for Lacy. Heading into the kitchen, she sees a girl that looks 16 sitting on the island's countertop, with a 20-something guy between her legs, eating her face off. There's a few other stragglers, one with her head stuck in the double-doored fridge and another just roaming around, most probably looking for beer to get drunk, or already drunk and looking for something to eat.

Finding nothing of substance there, Hasti exits the kitchen and looks around the living room for a familiar face. Finally, she finds one. And it's not one of her friends'.

She ducks her head down and finds the nearest exit, desperate to get away from Lacy, even though nothing that bad will happen even if she does get caught. Maybe the sneaking around makes the whole thing seem more daring. She climbs up the stairs into the much quieter and less crowded first floor. Nearly all doors are locked, with couples probably banging behind them. Finally, she finds one that opens and rushes in, closing it behind her. She looks around the quite large room.

There's an even-bigger-than-king-sized sized bed sitting against the wall to the right, the floor covered with lush carpeting that Hasti can't tell the color of because it's too dark, and a huge window on the wall opposite, from where the only light comes, illuminating the room with an eerie, but at the same time calming, glow. Heading over to the window to figure out what part of the house she's in, she finds out that it actually leads to a balcony. Sliding the door open and stepping out into the refreshing night air, she puts her hands on the cold, metal railing and looks down to see the huge backyard stretching across, filled with various shaped bushes. So she's at the back of the house.

"You're not supposed to be here." a voice says from behind in what sounds like a terrible imitation of Darth Vader.

Instead of being scared, she turns around with her brows furrowed, extremely confused and sees none other than Calum Hood sitting in one of the lounge chairs pushed against the wall next to the door. Embarrassed, he awkwardly laughs, "Sorry." 

"It's all good." Hasti chuckles. "So. Fun party, huh?"

"Loads." Calum deadpans. "In case you couldn't tell by us sitting as far away from it as possible." 

She joins him on how chair next to his and, for a while, she lays her head back, admiring the gorgeous sky, dark blue instead of the usual black, with the moon a full glowing pink-tinted orb, and the stars twinkling shyly around her. 

"Beautiful night." Calum comments.

"Not as beautiful as you." she turns to him, wiggling her eyebrows.

He jokingly brings his hand to his mouth in a show of faux shyness. "Oh, you!" he says in a high pitched voice and swats the air with one hand.

The both of them laughing, they turn back to the sky and appreciate the moon in all her glory. 

Calum randomly asks, "Have you ever been in love?" 

"Woah, where the fuck did that come from?" she nervously laughs.

"I dunno, I just think it's impossible to fall in love so young." he says, still completely serious. "I wanted to know what you think." he finally looks to the girl.

"Well." she looks back to the sky, "I...don't think I, personally, could fall in love. Right now. I mean, I just haven't been through enough. Like, even if I got into a long term relationship with someone, the most I could do is to mildly enjoy their company." she laughs, not entirely serious. Calum laughs along.

"Right? I mean, you just don't know enough about love to actually be in love." he says.

"No." she shakes her head.

"No?"

"No." she looks to him. "You don't have to _know_ about love to _fall_ in love. That's what I think. It just...happens."

"But you just said-"

"I know what I said. I said _personally._ It's not possible for me, but it might be possible for other people. But," she shrugs, "I'm just a dumb teenager. What do I know about love?"

At this, Calum says nothing and they continue to stare at each other for a while before Hasti turns back to the sky. "We don't deserve her."

"What?"

"The moon." she points. "She's so pretty. We did nothing to deserve her beauty."

Nodding in understanding, Calum lays his head back down and the boy and the girl stare at her until their eyelids start to droop.


	10. Carry On

Hasti is jolted awake by someone seemingly trying to take her shoulder out of its socket and hissing, "Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

Rubbing her eyes and still in a daze, Hasti squints and waits for her vision to clear. "Where the hell..." she rasps, seeing Ashton in front of her.

"Get up, we need to go, it's nearly three!" Ashton whispers.

"Shit!" she is now much more wide awake. "Shit, shit, shit, shit!"

"I'd say that's about right." Calum mumbles from beside her, eyes puffy and hair messed up.

"How the hell'd you manage to sleep outside?" Michael asks, stepping onto the balcony.

"Shit, shit shit," is all Hasti can manage to get out as she checks her phone.

"It was warm out." Calum says, his voice still drowsy, "And comfy. And the moon- she was beautiful."

"How much did you have to drink, mate?" Ashton peers into Calum's eyes.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck."

"Shut up, I didn't drink nothin'," Calum pushes Ashton off.

"Shit, fuck, shit."

"What's wrong with you?" Michael asks Hasti, seemingly worried.

"Twenty-four missed calls, _twenty-four_!" Hasti jumps up, addressing mainly Ashton.

"We gotta get going." Ashton says and, mumbling, adds, "I've got fifteen. Good to know they care about us equally."

"Come on!" Hasti drags her brother by the arm, and races through the glass sliding door and into the bedroom.

" _What the fuck_?" a girl shrieks from their left.

The siblings whip their heads towards the gigantic bed and find a certain topless redhead covering her (also freckled) chest with her pale arms, while a boy in only boxers screams his head off next to her.

"Oh my god, sorry! I'm so sorry, Lacy!" Hasti yells, slapping her hand over her brother's eyes and averting her own gaze as she runs to the door, unlocking it and slamming it closed behind them with a last, "Sorry!"

"What the hell'd you do that for?" Ashton whines, prying the girl's hand off his face, "I'm never gonna get the chance to see Lacy Greene's boobs again!" 

As the two stand outside the door, another round of teenage-girl screams is heard from inside, this time more prolonged than the time they were inside. Finally, Calum bursts out of the room, adorably flushed, dragging Michael behind him. "Look what I got!" Michael cheers victoriously, waving his phone around in the air. 

"You did not." Ashton says in disbelief.

"Indeed, I did."

"Well, show me!"

"You guys are disgusting." Hasti says.

"Well, that woke me up." Calum says, still very rosy-cheeked.

"Shit! We have to get home!" Hasti immediately clutches Ashton's arm in a death grip, dragging him towards the stairs.

"Send those to me!" Ashton calls to Michael. "They must've been really wasted if they didn't notice we were out on the balcony." he says to Hasti.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Where's everyone else?"

"Luke took a ride with, uh, Jessica? Jessie? One of Xena's friends, I don't know. And the girls walked home."

"You let two teenage girls walk home in the middle of the night?" Hasti screeches, pausing right in the driveway.

"Calm your tits, Michael, ever the gentleman, walked them to Azrael's and he came back to the party since she lives so close by." Ashton says, putting a hand on his sister's shoulder before she hyperventilated.

"Thank fuck." Hasti lets out a breath of relief and starts marching toward the car again. "Damn near gave me a heart attack."

"Mum and baba are gonna kill us, aren't they?" Ashton says as he starts the car.

"Pretty much." Hasti agrees as she buckles her seatbelt. "It's been a good ten years with you, pardner."

"Sure has." Ashton says as they start to ride to their doom.

+

Five weeks. Grounded for five weeks. No cell phone, no allowance and no get togethers except for band practices (which was vastly unfair, Hasti protested.) 

Ashton, ever the optimist, believes that _a digital detox will be good for us_ , _Has_ , and that _you don't have any friends anyway, what're you gonna miss out on?_ for which he received a nice kick to the shin, courtesy of Hasti.


	11. Unpredictable

"Gather 'round the Christmas tree, children." Hasti says in a deep voice with some sort of strange Irish/Scottish accent.

"What? Why the tree?" Michael asks.

"'Cause it's Christmas. And, since your band is finally complete, I think your followers deserve a Christmas special," Hasti explains.

"That sounds great!" Luke says, clearly excited.

"All right, good enough." Ashton says, dragging his cajon to in front of the tree.

Hasti, meanwhile, sets up the camera in front of the tree where Luke is sprawled on the floor, waiting for the rest of his band while Calum shuffles around on the other side of the room, eating a pack of biscuits.

Annoyed, Michael says, "What about me? Where am I supposed to sit? I have to play the guitar!"

"Jesus, stop fussing, you big baby," Hasti begins dragging over the recliner from where it originally sat in front of their TV, to the side of the tree opposite to where Ashton sat. With an exaggerated bow, she graciously says to Michael, "For the comforteth of his majesty's Royal asseth."

"Don't be a bitch," Michael grumbles, falling onto his seat with his guitar in his arms.

"Don't call her a bitch." Luke says from his place on the carpet, to which Michael pulls a face.

"Thanks, Lukey." Hasti takes her place behind the camera, checking one last time that everything is in order. "Looks good."

Luke gets up and sits with his legs crossed, while Calum peers into the camera, holding the last of a biscuit in his hand. Hasti turns to him and, perhaps without realizing it, begins to adjust the arm loop fuckamabobs of his tank top after noticing that one was almost off his shoulder. She also fixes her hair, running a hand through it to make it look more presentable and, snatching the small remains of the cookie from his hand and eating it herself, brushes the crumbs off his face. 

"Okay, mom, I think I'm good to go now." Calum says, smirking slightly but with a red tint to his cheeks nonetheless.

"Get outta here." Hasti rolls her eyes and pushes him toward the tree with a hand on the right side of his head.

"You guys are so cute." Luke says, holding his head in both hands and looking like a little girl watching a princess and a prince share their first kiss on TV- enchanted, intrigued and a little grossed out. "You act like you've been married for 40 years."

"Stop it! Don't- just- don't. Start recording." Ashton interrupts Luke voicing his thoughts.

"Jeez, okay." Luke puts his hands up as Hasti hits a button and moves over to sit nearby, watching as Michael (very unenthusiastically) introduces Ashton as their newest member. (Is it to seem punk rock? Was he genuinely annoyed? Nobody knows.) They then started playing and Calum sings first, looking adorably awkward but his voice powerful. His awkwardness was just a part of his charm.

Hasti, sitting nearby, nodded her head to the beat, even softly humming some parts with a smile on her face. When they finally finished, Hasti had to remind herself not to applaud and walked over to turn off the camera.

"You guys were so great!" she compliments.

"We know." Calum shrugs cockily.

"C'mon, let's go hab din din," Luke says.

"Ah, oui, j'aime pizza." Michael replies, leading everyone else to the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sksksksksksksk what is this


	12. Amnesia

Hasti sits at her desk, solving the math problems Mrs Han gave them to do as homework while listening to music with her headphones in to block out the boys playing in the garage, which was, unfortunately, directly underneath her room.

But geometry. Ugh.

As she gets to an extra hard part of the question, her favorite song comes on and she subconsciously start singing along softly. 

_I'm on fire._

_I'm on fire._

_I'm on fire, from her beauty._

_I'm on fire._

_What's happened to my heart?_

_I'm on fire._

She loves singing, but never does it when she knows someone might be consciously hearing her. So only when she's all alone or in the car when the music's extra loud. Or in the shower. When there's no one outside the door, of course.

Just then, she senses a presence behind herself. 

Fuck.

Stopping in the middle of a really high note, (which she hit quite well, if she does say so herself) she slowly turns around, her entire face hot.

Calum. Of course.

"What was that?" he asks, clearly very interested.

"What?"

"What you were singing just now. That wasn't- it didn't sound like English." he says, unsure.

"Uh, yeah, it's, um, an Arabic song" Hasti replies. "It's kinda old, though."

"Oh. Well, it was, um, really...pretty?" he says, more a question than a statement.

"Uh, thanks." she softly chuckles.

"Can you sing again?"

"What? Fuck no." 

"Please." he pouts, his already protruding lower lip jutted out further.

She rolls her eyes. "Hood, I am immune to your childlike behavior and looks."

"Hey! I do not look, nor do I act like a child!" he says, visibly restraining himself from stomping his feet.

The girl responds with a look that says, 'You're wrong but I'm just gonna be the bigger person and let you believe you're right.'

In shorter words, "Sure, kid."

"Can you at least let me hear it?" he pleads.

"Fine, whatever." She hands him one of her earbuds and plays the song from the beginning.

This used to be one of mama's favorite song.

It's not a sad song, not by a long shot. And Hasti can barely see it, a flurry of memories she has tried so hard to clutch onto for the past ten years. A blur of her mother spinning her around in their old California house, singing along to this very song, then turning the child upside down and pretending as if she was about to drop her. "Oh, no, Hasti! You're getting too big! I think I'm gonna- woah!" The dizziness from the spinning and her mother's grip on her loosening sent the toddler into a panic, screaming, "Mama! Don't let me go!" but she never did. She'd always swing her daughter in an arc, bring her right side up, and plant a kiss right on her nose. The same actions, in the same order, every time.

She wasn't sad about losing mama, not really. That happened a long time ago and it's something that she has now accepted. 

What she's really mad at herself about is not being able to remember her perfectly. It's all slipping away. When she made a joke, was it the left or the right side of her mouth that turned up first? What did her laugh sound like, exactly? What did her hair feel like? Everyone says that it was exactly like Hasti's, but they wouldn't know. Her mom's was different. She doesn't remember how, but it was.

 _I don't remember, I don't remember, I don't remember._

These random sinkholes in her memory frustrate her. They keep her up at night, as she tries and tries and tries to remember those tiny details about mama, but they just won't come to her, leaving her feeling like she's the worst daughter ever. I mean, what kind of child doesn't know whether their mom liked her tea with one or half a spoon of sugar?

"Hey, don't cry" Calum says to her.

At this point, somehow without realizing, she has begun to sob.

"Hey, come here." Calum takes her into his arms, placing her head on his chest and stroking her hair. "I'm here. I'm right here."

"I'm such a bad-" hiccup. " d-daughter."

"No you're not, baby girl."

"Mama probably h-hates me" she sobs.

"Awh, no, no, she could never hate you, she's your mum."

"I can't even remember her-" sob. "her favorite color."

"Hasti. Look at me." he cups her face with both his hands, giving her no choice but to look directly into his brown eyes. "Do you really think your mum cares about whether you know her favorite color? That that's what she's gonna look at to know if you're a good daughter or not?" He pauses, searching the girl's vulnerable, hazel eyes. "Of course not. You were five, Hasti, _five_! It's been ten years, you're not going to remember every little detail about her! And she doesn't expect you to either. She loves you." his voice becomes softer. "She's a mom, Has, and that's what moms do. If you fuck up in the worst way possible, your mother will love you still. Even after she's gone."

After staring at him a moment, she pulls him into a hug. This hug, however, is less of a 'comfort me, I'm crying' hug and more of a 'thank you for understanding and making me feel better' hug.

After a good fifteen seconds of hugging, they pull away.

"I was sent up here to, uh, call you down for dinner." he says, back to his awkward self.

"I'll be right down." she says, now smiling.

"Great." he gets up and moves toward the door. Putting his hand on the doorknob, he turns back around.

"By the way, uh, I liked your version of the song better than the original anyway." he says before quickly moving out the door, leaving her no time to respond.

What just happened?


	13. Castaway

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Hasti yells, jumping onto the big blanket-covered lump protruding from the bed. The lump whines.

"Get up!" Michael yells, piling on top of Hasti, causing Luke to follow suit after yelling, "Cuddle pile!" 

The lump groans in agony. 

"This is actually a lot more comfy than I'd have expected," Hasti comments, snuggling her face deeper into the blanket. 

"What the hell...?" Calum finally reveals himself as the lump, emerging from under the blanket bleary-eyed and woozy, his voice scratchy from lack of use.

"It's your sweet sixteen!" Luke cheers from the top of the stack of bodies.

"Aren't those for girls?" Michael raises an eyebrow at the boy laying on top of him.

"Sweet sixteens are unisex." Hasti states haughtily.

Just then, Ashton makes an entry holding a plate with a stack of pancakes, singing the happy birthday song. Everyone moves off of the birthday boy to allow him to sit up, but still remaining on the too-small bed.

"Aw, you guys." Calum looks endearingly at the pancakes as Ashton sits on the edge of the bed as well. The pancake on top seems to have a design on it, made with icing.

"It's...a, uhm," Calum looks around at his friends for help.

"A...naked mole rat?" Hasti supplies.

"With a top hat!" Luke calls out.

"A naked mole gentle-rat." Michael says.

"I'm not good at decorating." Ashton grumbles. "At least I tried!" 

"So it's...not a naked mole rat." Michael's statement is really a question.

"No! God, it's Calum!" Ashton bursts.

"Ah. Yeah, I can see that. I like the evil, beady little eyes. Those are real accurate." Hasti praises.

"And the huge ass teeth, the beautiful complexion. Oh, the hairline, damn. Nice job, mate." Mike claps Ashton on the back.

"Shut up," Calum chuckles, "Thanks, Ash. It's the thought that counts, really." 

Ruffling his hair like a true dad, Ashton gets up. "Well, I gotta get on with the _preparations,"_ he says the word as if it's some big secret, smirking and winking at everyone except Calum.

As soon as he makes his exit, Calum turns to the rest of his friends, his eyebrows drawn together with worry, "Guys. I don't actually look like this, do I?"

Hasti replies, "Well, the nose isn't too far off..."

"Has, I'm serious!" Calum whines.

"God, Cal, you're so conceited," she rolls her eyes playfully. "But no." she says, ruffling his hair. "You're even cuter," giving his cheek a pinch, she jumps up and hops out of the room.

"Ugh, you guys are gross." Michael pretends to gag.

"Shut." Calum hits his band mate with his pillow, "Up."

+

Later that day, after the surprise, (it was an uneventful barbecue at the park) and the gift-giving, and the cake-cutting, the kids had decided to stay behind to watch the sunset from the park. The sun was now long gone and Michael, Luke, Ashton, Azrael and Xena all had to leave for various reasons (hunger, the need to walk his goldfish, helping mum clean up, studying for next years' exams and cleaning her room, respectively.)

Running to the softly sloping summit of a nearby hill, Calum calls out to Hasti, "Let's roll down the hill!" and immediately throws himself onto the ground. Hasti walks over to the same spot, lays down, and lets gravity do its work. She comes to a stop about five feet from Calum, and both laugh hysterically. Finally, once they calm down, Hasti moves until she's right next to him, lying on her side to cuddle up to him. She wraps both arms around one of his and buries her face into his shoulder.

"Hey, um..." Calum starts.

"What?" Hasti softly prods his arm after he doesn't say anything for a while.

"Nothing, it's. It's stupid."

"I say stupid shit all the time," she comforts, shrugging.

"I was just wondering...have you- have you kissed anyone?" he gushes, his face burning, "Like, after, um, after me?" 

Chuckling, but still blushing, the girl replies, "No. I haven't. Have..." she suddenly becomes nervous as well, "have you?"

"No. Of course not." Calum immediately answers, in a tone that suggests he is being accused of murdering someone's mom.

Both teenagers let out a sigh in unison, smiling to themselves.

"You know," Calum starts after a while, "our kiss wasn't really a proper one, you know?"

"I guess." Hasti says in an uncharacteristically small voice.

"Like, it was really rushed, right?"

"And panicky."

"Exactly!" Calum says, relieved that she agrees. "So. Um."

"Um." Hasti looks up at him. "Should..." 

"Should we. Uh." Calum moves to lie on his side so that he faces her as well.

Then, at the same time, they begin to move their heads closer, and closer, and closer, until their noses are just touching. Calum snakes an arm around Hasti's waist and pulls her closer, their chests now pressed flush against each other. 

"Uh." Hasti breathes out, staring at the boy's plump, pink lips.

"Yeah." he sends a puff of breath over her face.

The two say in the same position for what feels like hours until, finally, Hasti tilts her chin up and, eyes fluttering closed, presses her lips to Calum's, moving them softly, slowly against his, as he tries to mimic her actions. Pulling away after a count of fifteen, (Calum knows, he actually counted) she opens her eyes and decides to leave three more soft, quick pecks on his lips. 

"Wow." Calum whispers, his breath entering Hasti's still open mouth.

"Yeah." Hasti bends her neck and buries her face in his chest, hiding the smile and the blush that has taken over her entire face. She wraps her arms around his waist as one of his hands go to her hair, playing with it and the other arm goes around her back, holding her securely to him.

"I'd say that was a proper kiss." Hasti says, her voice muffled and sending weird tingles through Calum's whole body (the good kind, of course).

"Yeah. I'd have to agree." Calum says, his voice quieter than the ruffling of the leaves on trees around them.


	14. Kill My Time

Hasti skips down the stairs, her uniform tie hanging around her neck, her hair still not done. She'll do it in the car. There's matters much more important to tend to. Like food.

"Gooood morning, sister." Ashton yips.

"Gooood morning, brother." Hasti replies, equally cheerful. "Today's gonna be a good day, isn't it?"

"Indeed, it is. I've got a feeling." Ashton replies.

"Toss me a Capri-sun." Hasti says from the opposite side of the island. "It's a special occasion." she winks.

"Ooh, can I have one?" Ashton requests.

"No. They're mine." she says. They order a crate off of Amazon every two months, and they're Hasti's oxygen supply. She isn't going to waste any on her brother, no matter how nice of a day she may be having.

Scowling at her, Ashton says, "You made my perfectly good day a little worse. I hope you're happy."

"I am, actually."

Just then, their mother enters the kitchen. "Kids! Oh, good, you're still here. HASSAN!" she yells up the stairs.

Our father frantically stumbles down the stairs, his tie hanging around his neck to match his daughter's, eyes wide with worry, "What? What's wrong? Are you okay? Is the-"

"Ahem." Mum interrupts. "We needed to talk to the kids about something?" she says in a tone that tells everyone that her husband's in trouble if he's forgotten.

"Right! Of course. Yeah. Uh. Kids, we need to discuss something very important with you." he says, switching immediately into a more authoritative tone.

"Ash did it." Hasti raises both palms up.

"Did not! What even-" 

"Shut up!" baba groans, tired of his kids' bullshit.

"So." Mum smiles, looking up at her husband fondly.

"So." he replies, being all cheesy and smiling with her.

"What's going on?" Ashton narrows his eyes in suspicion.

"Well..." baba looks down at his wife.

"Well..." mum repeats.

"For God's sake!" Hasti groans. "Just tell us!"

"We're pregnant!" mum cheers.

While Ashton stands in shock, the grip on the knife in his hand loosening, Hasti nearly swallows the straw on her Capri-sun. While she chokes, Ashton drops the knife onto the floor, where it just grazes the tip of his big toe, cutting a teensy-tiny slice of flesh off. Ashton falls to the ground, clutching his foot, while Hasti is still coughing up juice.

"Oh my goodness!" their mother shrieks, rushing over to slap Hasti's back, "This definitely wasn't the reaction we were expecting!"

"Ooh. That's pretty bad." Baba kneels next to Ashton, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'll go get the bandages." he rushes off into the bathroom.

Hacking up the last of the liquid from her trachea, Hasti screeches, "You're pregnant? What? But- Aren't you too old to- UGH! GROSS!" she remembers the process of baby-making.

Ashton, having recovered from some of the initial pain of losing a part of his toe, gags. "Aw, man. And here I thought I could have _one_ good day."

"It's alright, son," baba starts cleaning Ashton's foot with antiseptic. "you can postpone this good day for next week."

"Wait so, how far along are you?" Hasti asks.

"Oh, just...three." their mother replies.

"Three what? Weeks?"

"Months." mum says with a sheepish smile.

"THREE MONTHS?" Ashton and Hasti yell in unison. 

"Quiet down! Don't disturb the baby!" baba scolds.

"It can't even hear us but okay." Ash grumbles.

"You've been pregnant for three months? That's...crazy!" Hasti says, still pretty grossed out, though.

"Won't it be kind of weird? I mean, having another baby running around? Especially when _we're_ so much older than her?" Ashton says, rather concerned.

"Who said anything about a her?" Mum says, amused.

"Oh, well, I was hoping it'd be a girl." Ashton chuckles sheepishly.

"No, it's gonna be a boy." Hasti says, "For sure."

"Is not!" Ashton says.

"Is too!" Hasti sticks her tongue out her older brother.

"You two need to start behaving your age! Especially for when there's gonna be a younger, _impressionable_ child in the house." Baba chides.

"Woah. I'm gonna be an older sister." Hasti says. 

"It's not as fun as it seems." Ashton grumbles, probably not meaning for his sister to hear.

Scowling at him, Hasti begins to say something but is immediately cut off by her mother. "Late! Late, late, late! Come on! All of you have to leave!" She starts to push past her children and her husband, giving each a kiss on the temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I
> 
> I honestly
> 
> Don't even know anymore
> 
> Just
> 
> Yeah


	15. Kiss Me Kiss Me

After band practice at Ashton's, the boys had come inside, where Hasti had Xena and Azrael over, and they end up sitting on the floor in the middle of the spacious living room. Playing truth or dare. Obviously.

"Xena, truth or dare?" Luke asks, getting up after giving Ashton a foot massage. 

"Dare, duh. I'm no pussy." Xena smirks. 

"Alright then." Luke smirks and everyone can tell this may not end well. "Kiss your best friend."

"Which one?" Xena says coolly, while Azrael and Hasti are wide eyed.

"Xena, I love you but not in that way." Hasti says while Azrael just awkwardly coughs into her closed fist.

"It's just a kiss, Hasti, chill." Luke says. "But I guess I'll let you choose." he turns to Xena.

"Well. Since it's quite clear that Hasti doesn't want to, I only have one option left." and she crawls over to Azrael. Sitting on her knees, she lifts Azrael's chin with her hand, tilts her head to the right, and presses a soft, two second smooch to the other girl's lips. 

Pulling away, Xena smacks her lips. "Strawberry. Hmm. Nice." and she goes back to her place, leaving Azrael wide eyed as she brought her fingers to her mouth and pressed them to her lips.

"Moving on." Xena says as if kissing Azrael was an everyday occurrence, "Michael, truth or dare?"

"Dare." Mike chooses.

"Give Calpal here a lap dance." Xena claps Calum on the back.

Michael immediately blanches. "Fuck." he gets up, head hung low, and walks over to Calum, who doesn't look too excited for this either.

Xena pulls up a chair for Calum to sit on while Mike 'performs'.

"This is gonna be so good." Hasti snickers. "Wait! This needs some music!"

"I got it." Luke whips out his phone and starts playing, 'Sexy and I know it.'

Calum takes his seat and Michael squats in front of him, stiffly twerking in his face. Michael's face is completely red while Calum's cheeks puff up with held in laughter. Just as Michael starts moving his hips 'sensually' in a very beat up circle, Calum's laughter bursts out of him in one big whoosh, and so does everyone else's. 

Michael stops. "Fucking cunts." he mumbles under his breath as he moves back to sit in the circle. 

Everyone takes a while to recover from the hilarious ordeal, wiping their tears and clutching their stomachs. Everyone bursts into giggles one by one every few minutes long afterwards.

Finally, when everyone is relatively calmer, "Hasti." Mike turns to her. Oh shit. "Lick Calum's face."

She throws her hands into the air. "Seriously?" 

Calum, grimaces. "Why me?" he groans.

"For five seconds." Mike elaborates.

"Just go for it. Pretend you're a dog. SLUUUURP!" Xena licks the air in an effort to demonstrate.

Hasti groans, crawling over to Calum, shaking her head the entire time. Calum angles his face so that his left cheek is facing her, and Hasti sticks out her tongue and starts to move her head towards him and...she snorts.

Moving away from him, she says through her laughter, "I can't."

He also looks disgusted but laughs. "I don't want this anymore than you do, trust me."

She rolls her eyes and, tongue hanging out, moves toward Calum again, who has the most exaggerated grimace on his face. Finally, bringing her tongue to his jaw, she starts slowly making her way upwards, wanting the five seconds to be over already. It's a weird sensation, really. Calum's skin is soft and smooth as a baby's ass and tastes ever so slightly salty. He doesn't even have peach fuzz. Hasti has more facial hair than this boy! Just as she reaches the top of his cheekbone, someone yells out, "Five!" and she rips her tongue from his face. 

She gets up and runs straight to the bathroom, tongue flailing with the wind. Calum trails right behind her, the grimace still stuck on his face. The both of them reach the sink at the same time, and bump heads while bringing their faces down to the faucet. 

The two groan in pain, and begin to fight over who should go first. 

"My face is covered in your tongue juice!"

"My thongue is covered in your fathe juithe!" the girl argues, tongue still hanging out.

"It's drying! Eugh!" Calum shudders.

"Stho isth my thongue!" she retorts, gagging at the end.

While she recovers from nearly throwing up, Calum ducks his head down and splashes his cheek with water. She pushes him out of the way to swish water in her mouth, not noticing he had his hands cupped and full of water, which he proceeds to splash onto Hasti. 

"Calum!" she screeches, water flying out of her mouth and onto him, leaving him wide eyed with disgust and surprise.

She immediately doubles over in laughter, but then sees his face, red with rage. And she sprints.

He chases her out of the bathroom and into the living room, where everyone still sits. She runs over to Ashton, the biggest and strongest out of all of them.

"Save me, brother!" she pleads, running over to him.

"I'm not getting dragged into this!" he says, raising both arms.

"Betrayal!" she yells, racing around the loose circle of couches, Calum still hot on her tail. Dashing into the kitchen, she circles the island. Thinking he might be farther behind, she turns her head to look behind and is tackled almost immediately. Calum's hands go around her waist and she yelps in surprise. With their combined momentum, however, he is unable to keep both bodies upright, and they end up on he floor, him on top crushing Hasti. 

"Ow." She groans as he moves to support himself with him arms, ending up with his face directly above hers. And she can see all the small details of his face, from his wide, flat nose and the way it's seemingly always sunburnt, to his big, puppy dog eyes, and the two moles on his left cheek. She wonders if he's noticing the details and trying to memorize her entire face the way she's doing to his.

"Hi." he pants, his breath faintly minty.

Her breath hitches and, as much as she hates it, she feels just like a girl in a Romcom. "Nope. Not doing this." She pushes him off, making him land on the wooden floor.

His cheeks tinted red, he gets up too and brushes himself off.

He clears his throat awkwardly. "Sorry about that. Um, crushing you and all." he looks down.

"It's all good." She dusts herself off. "You're pretty heavy, though. Have you been lifting?" She jokes, squeezing his bicep, which is pretty much the size that an average 15 year old boy's should be. 

"Just for you, baby girl." he winks, spreading his arms and backing out the kitchen.

"Fucking clown." she says under her breath as he leaves, smiling nonetheless.


	16. Wildflower

Hasti goes to knock on the glossy white door because their doorbell was yet to be repaired, but stops short when she sees that the door wasn't locked, just resting against the doorframe.

Weird.

She pushes on the wood and glances inside, the small living room coming into view, Xena's school bag thrown precariously onto the floor.

Nothing unusual, right?

But then she also sees Azrael's tossed next to it, as if dropped in a hurry.

Very unusual.

She stupidly walks further into the home, all common sense overcome by the need to know if her friends are alright. Grabbing a broom from the kitchen, she tiptoes over to the hallway that leads to the two bedrooms. Reaching the Seth's bedroom, she slowly turn the doorknob, quiet as can be, hoping and praying that her lethal weapon of defense is strong enough to knock the intruder out.

As the door opens, she notices nothing unusual, just a bed against one wall with one bedside table, a window leading to a tiny balcony on the opposite side, and a door that leads to the minuscule half bathroom. It looks undisturbed, for the most part.

After making sure there was no one in the bathroom or under the bed, which no one could fit under anyway, she courageously continues her voyage, moving further down the hallway. Reaching Xena's door, she hears shuffling behind it.

She starts telepathically sending messages in case these are the last moments of her life. _I love you, baba, and Ash, and Anne-Marie, and Michael, and Luke. And the other guy, too, I guess._

Still praying under her breath, she opens the door to find:

1\. Xena, on the bed.

2\. Azrael, also on the bed.

3\. A shirt on the floor.

4\. Azrael's shirt not on her torso.

5\. Xena's lips on Azrael's.

6\. Azrael sitting on Xena.

"JESUS FUCK!" she screams, dropping the broom with a loud clang and slapping her hands over her eyes.

Two girls scream, which makes Hasti scream again, which makes them scream louder, resulting in a loop of the three of them yelling bloody murder, until Hasti manages to calm herself and yell over the noise, "SHUT UP!" which effectively stops the horrific sound. 

Her hands still tightly sealing her vision, she commands in a panic, "Shirt! Gah!" This results in some rushed shuffling, after which a timid, "You can look now," is heard.

"Ya sure?" Hasti needs confirmation.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Xena comes over and tears the girl's hands from her face herself. Her clothes are disheveled, lipstick smudged and, behind her, Azrael's hair messy, her entire face and neck peppered with lipstick stains, (or hickeys, Hasti wouldn't know the difference) and her t-shirt on backwards _and_ inside out.

"Um." Hasti awkwardly stands in the doorway.

"So, uh." Azrael starts and looks to Xena for help.

Xena just shrugs, smirking slightly. "It is what it is. You saw us kissing."

"More like steamily making out and groping boobs." she correct, causing Azrael to become even more red, which I didn't think was possible.

"Whatever." Xena just rolls her eyes. "We've been meaning to tell you."

"You mean- you- what?" I burst, eyes widening, "How long has this been going on?"

"Well," Xena starts, looking to Az to see if she was comfortable with letting me know. Receiving a curt nod, she continues, "Remember that day we played truth or dare?"

"How the hell can I forget?"

"Well, Az here was quite intrigued by our little smooch, and she came up to me later, all cute 'n shy 'n flustered, asking me to kiss her again. I complied, obviously." Xena says all this while sitting next to Azrael, fiddling with the hair tie on her wrist and looking uncharacteristically shy, as if she was just another 15 year old talking about her crush. "And after that one kiss, things sort of...escalated. We've been 'hanging out' more ever since." she uses air quotes.

"This is...a lot to digest. So...are you guys a thing now?"

This makes both of them look flustered, avoiding each other's gaze. "We, uh, haven't really thought about that." Xena replies. 

"Yet." Azrael quietly adds, making Xena's face light up for a second, before she puts up a neutral expression.

"Well, you better start dating soon, 'cause I can see how happy you make each other." Hasti smiles, making them follow suit, almost disbelievingly. "You'd make the cutest couple! Azena! No. Xenaz! Um. Azna...?" she looks up at Xena and Azrael, who just look amused. "No. I'm bad at ship names, okay? We'll come up with something." she promises. 

"I'd rather you didn't." Azrael laughs.

"So you're fine with us being...you know?" Xena asks me.

"I mean, as long as it doesn't come between our friendship or make things awkward or turn me into a third wheel," she sighs contently, "I'm perfectly fine."

The other two get up and engulf their best friend in a group hug. "Thank you." Azrael whispers into Hasti's hair.

Pulling away, Xena says, "Hey, look, we're fine with you knowing 'cause you're our best friend and all but maybe just don't tell anyone else? I've gone over it with Azrael and she's a little confused and still figuring herself out, you know? So just..."

"Yeah, totally. Of course." Hasti assures her, allowing a sigh to escape from Azrael.

"So." Xena looks around. "McDonald's?"

"McDonald's." Hasti agrees.

The two turn to Azrael. "McDonald's," she concedes, much less enthusiastic, but following them out of the apartment nonetheless.


	17. Best friend

Hasti digs through the fridge for something to eat while she watches a movie on a sketchy website from her laptop. Eventually settling on a Capri-sun, she closes the fridge door and jumps when she finds a tall figure stood right behind it. Realizing it was Calum, (who else?) she points her finger at him appreciatively, "A classic."

Calum takes a courteous bow.

"So watcha doing in my house?" the girl asks casually.

"The usual."

"Seeing your favorite girl?" she winks flirtily.

"Yep." Calum answers. "Anne Marie's the best."

Rolling her eyes, Hasti says, "Ok what are you really doing here?" 

"Meeting my favorite-" seeing her deadpan expression, he decides to go with, "Just band practice." 

As if on cue, three other boys walk into the all-of-a-sudden-too-small kitchen, rummaging through cabinets and the fridge, everyone bumping into each other.

"Ah," she nods and puts some bread in the toaster, moving closer to the counter.

"What about you?" Calum gets shoved forwards, and bumps his head with Hasti's.

"OW!" Hasti shouts, bringing her hand to her forehead.

"Luke!" Calum says, rubbing his own forehead.

Luke looks to the two and says, "Oh, I'm sorry," with a smirk that says otherwise.

"What am I doing in my own house?" Hasti walks over to the cabinet next to Calum's head with a scowl still on her face, putting a hand on his waist while moving past him.

"What? Oh, well...yeah," he says, his heart beating slightly faster.

"Just gonna go watch a movie." The now-toast pops up with a 'ding!' and she opens the jar of Nutella, brushing past Calum again. Her hair smells like fresh chocolate chip cookies, he notices.

"Mind if I join?" Calum says cheerily, trying harder than he should have to to calm his heart rate.

Sighing as if he's asked her a huge favor, she replies wearily, "I suppose."

"Cool!" Calum exclaims, running up to her room as Hasti shouts behind him to get his own snacks.

Just as Hasti is setting her freshly Nutella'd toast onto her plate, Michael comes up behind her with a hand on her shoulder and, without a word, inhales half of the toast in one go.

"Michael," Hasti groans.

"Sorry, hope you don't mind, just took a little nibble of your toast."

"I hate you," she scowls.

"No you don't," he presses a swift kiss to her cheek before dashing out of the kitchen, as Ashton glares at the back of his head.

+

He pushes her onto the bed and furiously attacks her mouth, pressing his entire body flush to hers, both passionately ripping each other's clothes off. He pulls away softly, slowly opening his eyes as she does the same, and his furious gaze burns into her, both panting heavily.

"I love you, ."

Hasti snorts as Calum exclaims, " _Seriously_? This was probably budgeted at millions and they let him say that shit?"

"I don't even know why we're still watching this." Hasti says, still chuckling. "We should've stopped at, 'Be my blood bank.'" she says, imitating the dreamy look the actor had in his eyes.

"We should've stopped when we found out the guy's name was Fernald." Calum grumbles, genuinely annoyed.

Hasti smiles from where her head lies in Calum's lap, the both of them lying on her bed with the laptop propped up awkwardly at just the right angle. Calum plays with her curls as he always does, when Hasti, all of a sudden, sits up. 

"God, is it hot in here or is it just me?" she says, pulling off the light hoodie she was wearing, leaving her in only a tank top. Her top had ridden up in the process, Calum noticed, exposing the soft, smooth, olive skin of her waist and lower back. Being the hormonal 16 year old boy that he is, he decides that crossing his legs and holding a throw pillow over his lap would be best for the both of them.

After Hasti has piled her hair on top of her head into a knot, she goes to lean her head on Calum's shoulder and hugs one of his arms.

Just then, Calum's phone starts ringing loudly, making both of them jump.

"Sorry," he says, looking at the screen, "it's my mom," he puts the phone up to his ear, "Hey, mum."

Hasti, getting an idea all of a sudden, moves her mouth right up to the phone and moans, "Calum, oh!" 

Calum realizes what she's doing his eyes immediately widen, "No, mom, I swear-"

"More!" Hasti moans loudly, her voice way too convincing for Calum.

"Shut up!" Calum shouts at her. "No, mum, not you! No, I'm not-"

"Daddy!" she moans, "Harder!"

"Oh, my god!" Calum squeals, his entire face beet red. "Mum, you have to believe me, I'm- No, I'm at Ashton's and that's her sister and she's messing around with me," he gives Hasti a hard glare as she silently laughs her ass off, "Yes, I promise. No, I know I'm too young. Okay, okay! Why would I need protection, I'm not even-" he squeaks, too embarrassed to complete his sentence. "Okay, I will. God, stop it, please. Yeah. Love you too. Bye"

He ends the call and silently glares at Hasti while she tries not to laugh any more. "Daddy? Seriously?"

"Oh, you should see your face right now." she says.

All of a sudden, the door bursts open and Ashton stands in her room, his hands tightly covering his eyes. "What the _fuck_ is going on in here?" he yells.

"Nothing!" Calum shouts immediately in a very guilty sounding voice. "I swear, I didn't even touch her, I-"

"Take your hands off your eyes, dipshit." Hasti tells her brother. "We weren't doing anything. My innocence is still intact."

Ashton cautiously removes his hands to find Hasti and Calum sitting cross legged on the bed, thankfully fully clothed and an acceptable distance apart. "It better stay that way for, like, 30 years." 

"I'm gonna be almost fifty in thirty years."

"I don't care," are his last words as he walks out of the room, obviously leaving the door wide open.

"Why the hell would you do that? _With my mom_?" Calum says, still clutching onto the pillow for dear life.

Just then, Luke pops his head in, smirking. "Been having fun up here, eh?"

"You know it," Hasti winks slyly at him.

"No! No fun was being had up here. No fun at all. The exact opposite of fun, in fact, was happening." Calum says grumpily.

"Oh, come on, that was fun." Hasti says.

"No. Not one part of it."

"Come on, a little."

"No."

"Well, one part of you sure had fun." Luke notices the pillow covering Calum's crotch.

"Oh!" Hasti suddenly turns red too, "I forgot that, uh, boys, um." she swallows hard, then jumps up from the bed, "I'm gonna go. Do that thing. Downstairs. And I'll be back in...five?" she looks at Calum, not knowing how long would be needed to sort the _situation_ out.

"Ten," Luke supplies.

"Ten minutes. Right." she nods and nearly runs out of the room.

Calum lets out the biggest groan, "This is just great. I got a boner in front of my girl best friend. And now she probably thinks I'm gross. And probably never wants to see me again." he buries his head in his hands.

"Dude, calm down, it's okay, it happens," Luke comforts him with a hand on his back, "And don't worry, you're like, her favorite person, and she's yours. I don't think anything could ruin your guys' friendship."

"I can think of something," Calum disagrees.


End file.
